British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early yesterday from Taliban captors who kidnapped him over the weekend in northern Afghanistan, but one of the troops and a Times translator were killed in the rescue.
Reporter Stephen Farrell was taken hostage along with his translator in the northern province of Kunduz on Saturday. German commanders had ordered US jets to drop bombs on two hijacked fuel tankers, causing a number of civilian casualties, and reporters traveled to the area to cover the story.
Two military officials said one British commando died during the early morning raid. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the death had not been officially announced.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Times reported that Farrell’s Afghan translator, Sultan Munadi, also was killed.
Afghan officials over the weekend said about 70 people died when US jets dropped two bombs on the tankers, igniting them in a massive explosion. There were reports that villagers who had come to collect fuel from the tankers were among the dead, and Farrell wanted to interview villagers.
The Times kept the kidnappings quiet out of concern for the men’s safety, and other media outlets did not report the abductions following a request from the Times.
A story posted on the Times’ Web site quoted Farrell saying he had been “extracted” by a commando raid carried out by “a lot of soldiers” in a firefight.
Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor, said British Special Forces dropped down from helicopters early yesterday onto the house where the two were being kept, and a gunbattle ensued.
A Taliban commander who was in the house was killed, along with the owner of the house and a woman who was inside, Yowar said. He said Sultan was killed in the midst of the firefight.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday welcomed partial results released from Afghanistan’s controversial presidential polls, in which he is ahead, and praised vote staff for their “impartial” spirit.
Karzai “welcomed the partial election results announced by the Independent Election Commission [IEC] and hopes the final results are announced after its required process is over,” the presidency said in a statement. “President Karzai applauds the Election Commission for its efforts in pursuing the process in an impartial and faithful national spirit.”
On Tuesday, the IEC said Karzai was in the lead with 54.1 percent of the vote so far from more than 90 percent of polling stations.
But the separate Electoral Complaints Commission said it had found “clear and convincing evidence of fraud.”
Karzai’s main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, has branded the release of partial results from the Aug. 20 election as “illegal” and alleged that large-scale fraud would cause lasting damage to the country.
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